• The current edition of the Empleaverde program is endowed with 10.7 million euros
• The program has two open calls: one for environmental training and the other for hiring unemployed people within the framework of the green economy.

With these calls for proposals, MITECO seeks to contribute to a green recovery of the socioeconomic fabric. The objective of these grants is to address major current challenges such as the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, biodiversity loss, climate change, and depopulation.

Two calls

The Biodiversity Foundation's Empleaverde program offers the following applications:

A) Through the Mejora Call , endowed with 5.7 million euros , the aim is to support training and advisory projects on issues related to the green and blue economy.

The amount of funding for these projects can range from €100,000 to €300,000. Priority groups will be considered (women, young people up to 35, people over 45, immigrants, people with disabilities, and residents of protected areas and/or rural areas). The autonomous communities with the largest amounts of available funding are Extremadura, Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha, Murcia, the Canary Islands, and Melilla.

The application period for submitting projects is open until December 15, 2020.

B) To support the hiring of unemployed people in the green and blue economy, the Emplea Call has been launched, endowed with 5 million euros . Private entities, whether profit-making or non-profit, based in Spain, and self-employed individuals who hire or have hired unemployed people full-time for a minimum period of 6 months, between May 2019 and March 2021, are eligible to apply for this aid. The person hired, or the entity carrying out the hiring, must be linked to the green and/or blue economy.

The amount of subsidies for hiring unemployed people ranges from €1,900 to €3,440 per contract. The amount depends on whether the person hired belongs to one of the priority groups (women, young people up to 35 years old, people over 45, immigrants, people with disabilities, or residents of protected areas and rural areas) and the percentage of co-financing from the European Social Fund corresponding to the region where the hiring center is located (Extremadura, Andalusia, the Canary Islands, Castilla-La Mancha, Melilla, Murcia, Asturias, Ceuta, and Galicia receive 80%, and the rest of the regions receive 50%).

The application period will be open from February 20, 2021 to September 2021 .

Biodiversity Foundation

The Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge's "Employs Verde" program is an initiative of the Biodiversity Foundation, created in 2007 to promote and improve employment, entrepreneurship, and the environment. It is co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) under the Employment, Training, and Education Operational Program 2014-2020.